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430. The Past potential is very indefinite with respect to time, being used to express liberty, ability, purpose, or duty, sometimes with regard to what is past, sometimes with regard to what is present, and sometimes with regard to what is future; thus,

Past" He could not do it then, for he was otherwise engaged."
Present—“I would do it with pleasure now, if I could.”
Future" If he would delay his journey a few days, I might
[could, would, or should] accompany him."

431. The signs of the Past potential are, might, could, would, should.

432. The Past-perfect potential, also, never corresponds in time to the past-perfect indicative; that is, it never represents an act, &c., as completed at a certain past time, but expresses the liberty, ability, purpose, or duty, with respect to the act or state expressed by the verb, as now past; thus, "He could have written," means, He was able to write.

433. The signs of the Past-perfect potential are, might have, could have, would have, should have.

434. The Future and Future-perfect are wanting in the Potential.

TENSES OF THE SUBJUNCTIVE MOOD.

435. The Subjunctive mood, in its proper form, has only the Present tense. The verb "to be" has the present and the past. The indicative mood used subjunctively (386), furnishes what may be called a second form of the present subjunctive, and the only form of the other subjunctive tenses.

436. The Present subjunctive, in its proper form, according to present approved usage, has always a future reference; that is, it denotes a present uncertainty or contingency respecting a supposed future action or event; thus, "If he write," is equivalent to, If he should write," or, "If he shall write."*

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437. Uncertainty or contingency respecting a supposed present

From this usage, some grammarians regard this as an elliptical form of the future, or of the past potential, in a future sense, the signs shall or should being omitted; and some have given it as a future, in the conjugation of the verb. However plausible this may appear, from the present prevailing usage, there can be no doubt that this, so-called, elliptical future was formerly considered, and is even still used, as a present subjunctive. It is often used when the time is manifestly present, and in such a way that neither shall, nor should, nor any similar term, can be supplied without changing the sense; and where the present usage would require the present indicative; thus, "Though the Lord be [is] high," &c.-Ps. cxxxviii. If thou be [art] the Son of God."-Matth. iv. 3, 6." That which thou sowest is not quickened except it die [dies].”—1 Cor. xv. 36.—"Whether he be [is] a sinner or not, I know not."-John ix. 25, &c.

6.

action or state, is expressed by the present indicative used subjunctively; as, "If he writes as well as he reads, he will succeed."

438. The PRESENT-PERFECT subjunctive is only the same tense of the indicative, used subjunctively. Such expressions as, “ If she have brought up children," &c. (1 Tim. v. 10), are now obsolete. 439. The Past subjunctive is used in two senses—

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1. It is used to express a past action or state as conditional or contingent; as, If he wrote that letter he deserves credit, and should be rewarded;""If he was at home, I did not know it."

2. It expresses a supposition with respect to something present, and implies a denial of the thing supposed; as, "If I had the money now, I would pay it," implying, I have it not. Used in this way, the verb "to be" (and of course the passive voice of transitive verbs) has a separate form in the singular, but not in the plural, viz. : I were, thou wert, he were; for I was, thou wast, he was: thus, "If my kingdom were of this world, then would my servants fight," implying, It is not of this world; "O that thou wert as my brother," implying, that thou art not.

440. In this way, the Past subjunctive seems to be always used when the conjunctive term is omitted, and the verb or auxiliary is placed before its nominative (389); as. "Hadst thou been here, my brother had not [would not have (358)] died."

441. When a supposition &c. respecting something past, is expressed in this way, the Past-perfect must be used; as, " If I had had the money yesterday, I would have paid it," implying, I had it not; "O that thou hadst been as my brother," implying, that thou wast not.

442. Though the past tense, used in this way, refers to a present act or state, yet, as it has the past form, it should, in parsing, be called the past tense.

TENSE OF THE IMPERATIVE MOOD.

443. The Imperative mood has only the present tense, and that has respect to the time of the command, exhortation, &c. The doing of the thing commanded, must, of course, be posterior to the command requiring it.

TENSES OF THE INFINITIVE MOOD.

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444. The Infinitive mood has two tenses, the Present and the Perfect. These do not so properly denote the time of the action, &c., as its state (446 and 449); as, "To write"-"To have written."

The word present is omitted before perfect, in designating this tense in the infinitive and participles, because the reference in these is only to the state of the act, &c.. and not particularly to the present time (455).

445. In the other moods, the time expressed by the tenses, is estimated from the time of speaking, which is always regarded as present; as, "I wrote" (that is, in a time now past), "I write" (that is, in time now present). "I shall write" (that is, in time now future). But the infinitive represents the action or state expressed as present, not, however, always at the time of speaking, but at the time indicated by the preceding verb, or some other word in the sentence; as, "He wishes to write" -now-to-morrow-next week, &c.; "He wished to write"-then (viz., at the time of wishing, now past)-next day—this day-to-morrow, &c.; "He will wish to write"-then (viz., at the time of wishing, now future)-next day, &c. Hence the following definitions:

446. The Present infinitive expresses an act or state not finished, indefinitely, or at any time referred to, expressed or implied; as, “I wish to write"-"I wished to go"-"Apt to teach."

447. The sign of the present infinitive is, to.

448. After the verb to be, the present infinitive is sometimes used to express a future action or event; as, "He is to go;" "If we were to go," &c. (876-3.)

449. The Perfect infinitive expresses an act or state as perfect or finished, at any time referred to, expressed or implied; as, "He is said to have written"-already-yesterday—a year ago, &c.

450. The sign of the perfect infinitive is, to have.

451. In the use of the infinitive it is necessary to observe, that the Present must never be used in circumstances which imply a finished act; nor the Perfect in circumstances which imply an act not finished. Thus, it is improper to say, "He is said to write yesterday," because the language leads to regard the act as finished, since it took place in past time. Nor can we say, "I hoped-I desired—I intended, &c.—to have written yesterday," because an act regarded as perfect or finished, the doing of which, of course, is past, can not be the object of hope, desire, intention, &c.

PARTICIPLES.

452. A PARTICIPLE is a word which, as a verb, expresses an action or state, and, as an adjective, qualifies a noun; as, “He came seeing”—“ Having finished our task, we may play."

453. Participles are so called, because they belong partly to the verb, and partly to the adjective. From the former, they have signification, voice, and tense; and they perform the office of the latter.

454. Verbs have three participles-the present, the past, and the perfect; as, loving, loved, having loved, in the active voice; and being loved, loved, having been loved, in the passive.

455. The participles, like the infinitive, do not so properly denote the time of an action, as its state; while the time of the act, whether progressive or finished, is indicated by the verb with which it is connected, or by some other word; thus, "I saw him writing yesterday;" "I see him writing now;" "I will see him writing to-morrow." In all these examples, writing expresses an act present, and still in progress at the time referred to; but with respect to the time of speaking, the act of writing, expressed in the first example, is past, in the second it is present, and in the third it is future, as indicated by the accompanying verbs, saw,«see, will see.

456. The present participle active ends always in ing. In all verbs it has an active signification, and denotes an action or state as continuing and progressive; as, “James is building a house." In some verbs, it has also a passive progressive signification; as, “The house is building." App. V., pp. 235-238.

457. This usage some suppose has its origin in the use of the verbal noun after in, to express the same idea; thus, "Forty and six years was this temple in building;" "And the house when it was in building was built of stone made ready-so that there was neither hammer nor axe heard in the house, while it was in building." In the absence of emphasis, the in being indistinctly uttered, came to be spoken, and consequently to be written, a; as, "While the ark was a preparing" (1 Pet. iii. 20), and finally to be omitted altogether. Similar changes of prepositions we have in the expressions, a going, a running, a hunting, a fishing, &c. Others, again, suppose that this ought to be regarded as an original idiom of the language, similar to the passive use of the infinitive active noticed before (397). But whether either of these is the true account of this matter or not, the fact is certain. It is therefore the duty of the grammarian to note the fact, though he may be unable to account for it. The following are examples: "This new tragedy was acting."-E. Everett. "An attempt was making."-D. Webster. "The fortress was building," &c.Irving.

458. The Present participle passive has always a passive signification, but it has the same difference of meaning with respect to the time or state of the action as the present indicative passive (509). 459. The Past participle has the same form in both voices. In the active voice it belongs equally to transitive and intransitive verbs-has always an active sense-forms, with the auxiliaries, the Present-perfect and Past-perfect tensesand is never found but thus combined; as, "has loved," "had loved," &c. In the passive voice it has always a passive sense, and, with the verb to be as an auxiliary, forms the passive voice; as, "He is loved;" or without it, qualifies a noun or pronoun; as, "A man loved by all, hated by none." The difference between the active and the passive participle will be seen in the following examples, viz. ACTIVE" He has concealed a dagger under his cloak;" PASSIVE-" He has a dagger concealed under his cloak."

460. The Perfect participle is always compound, and represents an action or state as completed at the time referred to. It has always an active sense in the active voice, and a passive sense in the passive; as, ACTIVE: "Having finished our task, we may play." PASSIVE: "Our task having been finished, we may play."

. 461. The Present participle active, and the Past participle passive, when separated from the idea of time, become adjectives, and are usually called participial adjectives; as, "An amusing story" "A bound book" (202-4).

462. The participle in ing is often used as a verbal noun (107,-3), having the nominative and objective cases, but not the possessive. In this character, the participle of a transitive verb may still retain the government of the verb; as, "In keeping his commandments there is a great reward;" or, it may be divested of it by inserting an article before it, and the preposition of after it; as, "In the keeping of his commandments." When of follows the participle, the should precede it (899). But of can not be used before a preposition.

463. So also the Perfect participle; as, "There is satisfaction in having done well"-" His having done his duty, was afterward a source of satisfaction."

NUMBER AND PERSON.

464. Every tense of the verb has two NUMBERS, the Singular ana the Plural, corresponding to the singular and plural of nouns and pronouns. The singular asserts of one, the plural of more than

one.

465. In each number, the verb has three PERSONS, called the first, second, and third. The first asserts of the person speaking; the second, of the person spoken to ; and the third, of the person or thing spoken of.

466. The subject of the verb, in the first person singular, is always I; in the plural, we: in the second person singular, thou; in the plural, ye or you: in the third person, the subject is the name of any person or thing spoken of, or a pronoun of the third person in its stead; also it may be an infinitive mood, or a clause of a sentence, or any thing of which a person can think or speak.

467. In ordinary discourse, the imperative mood has only the second person, because a command, exhortation, &c., can be addressed only to the person spoken to.

468. In such expressions as "Let us love"—" Let him love"-" Let them love" — phrases by which the first and the third person of the imperative in some languages are rendered-let is the proper imperative, in the second person, with thou or ye as its subject understood, and love the infinitive without the sign (877). Thus, "Let [thou] us love," &c.

469. This mode of expression is sometimes used, even when no definite individual is addressed; as, "Let there be light."

470. Among the poets, however, we sometimes find a first and a third person

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